. >>> talks between the white house and republicans over the fiscal cliff are grinding to a hold. house speaker john boehner dealing with division in the gop's ranks to his budget plan. we've got a shanghai surprise. china's mainland markets up over nearly 3% after beijing's new leaders called for economic stability and new business growth. and it looks like more austerity for britain. george osborne getting ready to release his autumn statement. >>> nokia shares a little bit high today. they are teaming up with china mobile, giving access to the world's biggest mobile phone markets. >>> if you just got up, very warm welcome to the start of your global trading day. stocks are on the front foot this morning. this is where we stand with u.s. futures. currently called up around about 30 points higher. the dow down, what, 13 points? the nasdaq called up just under 40 points. the s&p 500 at the moment is called up just over three points. it was down two points yesterday. european stocks doing a little built better. they were as flat as a pancake, as i've been saying. as flat as my panc